1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink composition suitable for use in printing on woven fabrics, especially animal fibers including silk and wool, and polyamide fibers including nylon, by ink jet recording, and an ink jet textile printing method using the same.
2. Background Art
Ink jet recording is a printing method wherein droplets of an ink composition are ejected and deposited onto a recording medium, such as paper, to conduct printing. This method has a feature that an image having high resolution and high quality can be printed at a high speed by means of relatively inexpensive apparatuses.
The application of the ink jet recording to textile printing permits various images to be easily formed on fabrics. This is particularly advantageous in the formation of images having excellent gradation, multicolor rendering and other properties. Further, unlike the conventional textile printing process, substantially no excessive ink composition is created. Therefore, the application of the ink jet recording to textile printing is advantageous also from the viewpoint of the environmental protection.
Matters, which are important to the application of the ink jet recording to textile printing, include that the ink composition can realize highly color developed printed image, the ink composition can have viscosity low enough to be suitable for ink jet recording, the ink composition can favorably match a pretreatment agent for woven fabrics to realize good images, the drying of printed images is relatively fast and, for example, any offset does not occur at the time of winding of the woven fabric after textile printing, and, in addition, the ink composition can be stably stored for a long period of time.
Ink jet textile printing methods, wherein textile printing is carried out by ink jet recording, are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 255627/1993, 25576/1994, 258982/1995, and 296380/1997.
The present inventors have now found an ink composition which can satisfy, on a high level, various properties required of ink compositions for ink jet textile printing and can realize good printed images.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink composition, which can satisfy, on a high level, various properties required of ink compositions for ink jet textile printing and can realize good printed images, and an ink jet textile printing method using the same.
According to the present invention, there is provided an ink composition for ink jet textile printing, comprising at least an acid dye, a surfactant, water, and at least one compound represented by formula (I), said ink composition having a viscosity of not more than 8.0 m.Pa.s (20xc2x0 C.): 
wherein
EP1, EP2, and EP3 each independently represent an ethleneoxy or propyleneoxy group; and
l, m, and n each are independently 0 or a natural number of 1 or more, provided that at least one of l, m, and n is 1, or more with the average of l+m+n in the whole compound represented by formula (I) contained in the ink composition being 1 to 30.
The ink composition according to the present invention can satisfy, on a high level, various properties required of ink compositions for ink jet textile printing. For example, the ink composition according to the present invention can realize highly color developed printed images in textile printing. In particular, the utilization of the compound represented by formula (I) can reduce the amount of the so-called wetting agent, such as glycerin, added to the ink composition and can increase the content of water as a main solvent in the ink composition. As a result, an acid dye as a colorant can be present in a larger amount in the ink composition, leading to an advantage that printed images having high print density can be realized. Further, the ink composition according to the present invention is highly compatible with ink jet recording, especially a piezoelectric vibrator type ink jet recording head. Moreover, the ink composition according to the present invention has an additional advantage that printed images are relatively fast drying. In the present invention, drying associated with the ink composition refers to the evaporation of volatile components in the ink composition to fix the solid component onto woven fabrics, and, in addition, connotes that, for example, the printed image becomes dry to the touch as a result of the penetration of the ink composition into woven fabrics. Moreover, the ink compositions according to the present invention have good long-term storage stability.